Tag Archives: stress eating

Driven To Eat

13 Jan

I am not a huge alcohol drinker. I’m not that person who has a glass of wine every evening, or who when out for dinner automatically orders a highball and I’m definitely not that person who when stressed/irritated makes the comment “I need a drink!”

I completely understand the urge to reach for something to take the edge off though. What do I reach for?

Chocolate! πŸ˜€

Yes, that’s right, when I am done dealing with a super stressful/annoying situation I think (though rarely say) “I need chocolate!” and heaven help me if there is any nearby *rolls eyes*

I used to reach for fast food, so I suppose reaching for chocolate is a bit of an improvement?…ok fine, I know it’s not but let me have my illusion k? πŸ˜‰

Today I had to deal with this one resident who tests my patience like nobody else on the planet. She tests everybody’s patience so don’t go judging me and thinking I’m the only one who has an issue here lol She’s a nice lady, just…shrug, high maintenance? Something that should take less than 5 minutes to sort easily takes 30 minutes cause of how she does things. If it is quiet then it’s fine but today I had line ups at the desk, every phone line ringing and she was being super high maintenance, as in suuuuuuper high maintenance! As in omg I want to hit my head against a wall to get out of this situation because that would be less painful!

After I was done helping her I actually sat at my desk, head in my hands, exhausted from the ordeal. I also actively had the thought “I need chocolate. Desperately need chocolate.” Fortunately, or unfortunately (depending how you want to look at it) we had some lovely Purdy’s chocolates at work and oh boy did I snack! Three! I ate three amazingly delish chocolates, they are two layers of chocolate with a layer of mint in between, it was my first time having them and I can easily say they are ranking up there as a new fave. Mmm!

Mmm! Chocolate and mint, one of the best combos ev-ah!

Mmm! Chocolate and mint, one of the best combos ev-ah!

I know it isn’t good to have food as a release valve when stressed, just like it isn’t good to use food as a reward or a way to celebrate something or provide comfort for something going badly…and yet! lol

I don’t use food for any of those reasons as much as I used to, or at least I don’t think I do, but I can definitely remember a number of times when I used food for those reasons. I remember after a photo shoot a couple years ago, it ended around 9pm and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast so I was starving, as a way to celebrate an awesome shoot I bought pizza and dessert breadsticks on the way home from Panago. I justified the meal because (1) I hadn’t eaten in a freakish long time and (2) celebrating a great shoot. Ridiculous right? I’ve had other similar situations and it’s, sigh, it’s just a dumb way to use food. I try to get my thinking to change to “food is fuel” but it’s hard. So many people socialize around food, or celebrate around food, or mourn around food, food is used in so many situations that I guess it’s a natural progression to food becoming a source of comfort, a stress reliever, a way to celebrate.

Just because it is a natural progression doesn’t mean it isn’t stupid though. πŸ˜›

Speaking of stupid…I was supposed to go to the gym today after work. It was to be my first time back since being sick and then the hip injury. I had my whole workout plan figured out, was actually pretty psyched to be going back and what happened? I ended up napping when I got home, then taking forever to properly wake up, then taking forever to figure out what to make for dinner and making it and eating it, then I got wrapped up in watching the new episode of Law & Order SVU and then it became now and it is too late to go. Crap. I know it’s my fault I didn’t go, I should have gone right after work, or forced myself to get up from that nap, or something but I didn’t and now I have yet one more day under my belt of not hitting up the gym…and what makes it worse is that one more day under my belt involves three Purdy’s chocolates! *groan*

Weird Vibes

16 May

So word got out at work about my being laid off – talk about awkward! Nobody said anything directly to me, they just kept looking at me with pity and almost saying something then stopping themselves – annoying! That was worse then people coming up to me and saying stuff. sigh.

The only one who did anything was AB who commiserated with me for a bit then emailed me two links to some really great job listing boards – now that’s way better then a weird smile! πŸ˜€ I’ve scoped the boards out and already found about 5 jobs to apply for, yah! None of them are a dream job or anything but they are all jobs I should have the qualifications for and might at least have a chance to get…

I was starving all day today! All Day!! I knew it wasn’t real hunger, it was psychological, but that doesn’t make it any less hard to deal with. I had properly spaced out meals and snacks and they were all normal sizes and healthy which helped me to not cave and eat more then I should but oh geez was it hard! I kept wanting to go get a bagel, or a bowl of cereal, or go buy a sconeΒ – something…anything!Β I knew in my head it was stress hunger, not real hunger but I sure wish I could have convinced my stomach of that. Luckily I had some mini cucumbers with me so I ate those for an afternoon snack but if I hadn’t had those I think for sure I’d of caved. *shakes head* Hell, it’s almost 9:15pm right now and I am starving all over again even though I have eaten all my points and had a crazy huge dinner. I hate stress hunger. sigh.

Today I ate:

1 raspberry turnover cookie = 2 points

1 Hearty Medley’s = 2 points

1 apple = 1 point

1 Campbell’s Spicy fiesta black bean and veggie soup = 4 points

1/2 bagel = 1.5 points

2 mini cucumbers = 0 points

1 cup brown rice = 4 points

mixed cooked veggies = 0 points

1 light hot dog wiener = 1 point

cashews = 1 point

2 raspberry turnover cookies = 4 points

Total points eaten = 20.5

Ok, so I went over by 0.5, so shoot me. πŸ˜› lol. The kitchen at work ran out of bread so my only option, literally Only option, was half a bagel. Maybe I shouldn’t of had any bread but how could I not put some form of bread with my soup – it’s just un-natural to eat only soup. lol. That and I really wanted some carbs. πŸ˜›

You may be wondering what is with the raspberry turnover cookies – they are such amazingly good cookies, Mmm! I bought them at walmart cause they were only $2 for a package and I was weak. shrug. They are 2 points each though so I have to be careful when I eat them and how many I eat at a time. Sooooo, one this morning before I left the house, and then cause I had stir fry for dinner and it’s so low in points I got to have 2 this evening for my night time snack. They were delish, and I don’t regret eating them but I am feeling so hungry that I wish I’d had something more filling for my last 4 points…altho, really, anything I would have eaten would have been about the same level of filling so I’d still be hungry…which sucks.

I wonder if working on my resume, thereby increasing my chances of getting a job, will decrease my stress and help my stomach to not feel hungry all the time? I think I will test this theory and go work on my resume…not fun, but productive and I guess that’s good…